Orange Tour Session Notes with Stuart Hall

Why are you having to tell people that you must get away from this? It only makes sense that people are getting out. We run the risk of getting distracted about what matters most.

It’s easy for any leader or parent to get distracted about what matters most when it comes to raising a generation. Who is my neighbor? The Good Samaritan. A priest comes by. A Rabi comes by. Then a Samaritan helps him and goes the second mile to give him money out of his pocket and clothes off his back just so the man can be well.

There are a couple of things that scream at us when we look at the story of the good Samaritan and ask these questions:

Who taught the good samaritan to be good?

When Jesus said that the Samaritan was good, the people who have asked, how in the world could this Samaritan have been good?

How and why did the rabbi and priest grow up and miss it?

What was happening in their discipleship process that they walked by a dying man and turned the other way? How were they so theologically sound but missed it so much relationally?

What would happen if we decided to make it a priority as leaders to raise kids to do what Jesus said matters most? Maybe what this pushes at, is that we have gotten distracted about what matters most.

Maybe what matters most is not that they are always theologically right but that they love Jesus.
What if our calling is simple to raise kids that love God in such a way they act like good samaritans? The Gospel pushes us to be good Samaritans. How are you personally doing at raising good Samaritans? Any style of ministry that minimizes what Jesus maximized sets up a generation become disillusioned with the church.

What is going on now is because of the church of the last 20 years, not because what is going on now. We are reaping the consequences of minimizing what Jesus maximizes. The idea of kids loving their neighbor as themselves matters. Most of us are much better at teaching kids what to believe than we are at coaching kids how to serve. My role is not to simply teach kids about serving others but to coach them how to serve others. Make it come to life. What if you and I decided that how students treat other people is a reflection of Jesus in their life. What if we started acting like what a kid does can actually affect what a kid believes? James the brother of Jesus said, “don’t just be a hearer of the Word, do what it says.”

How to climb mountains teaching example. Not watch a movie, read a book, and look at this checklist…Go climb the mountain.

Kids and students understand more about God when they do what God created them to do.

It stretches their faith, not replaces their faith. Why is it that there is pushback in your spirit or mind?

Why don’t we coach kids to serve?

It’s easier to teach students what to believe than it is to coach them how to serve.

It’s not how we measure success. We measure seats in butts not by the number of students we have mobilized to serve and love their neighbor as themselves.

It takes more time to serve. If everything is clean and organized then it’s probably not relational. Relationships are messy. Maybe start rethinking and simplify what we do so that we have more time.

It’s not on the calendar. What’s next? What do I have to do? Decide, this is what we are going to do next. Maybe you need to kill sacred cows.

It’s messy and risky. You might actually get students involved in serving that never come to your discipling event. Most evangelistic think you can do for teenagers is give them an opportunity to serve. It gives you the opportunity to share Jesus with them.

It’s not a priority in our own personal life. Professional Christians. Haven’t you spent all week long serving at the church but then didn’t show up on the weekend to help someone move? We love God and we love people but it’s exhausting and time-consuming. It becomes an obligation instead of an opportunity.

Advice on creating a culture of service:

Convince every adult that service is discipleship. The International church does not mean that kids sit with their parents but that they serve alongside their parents who are serving.

Give every kid at every phase something significant to do. Preschoolers can consider others before themselves. This week, you get the opportunity to serve us all. Middle school students can be coupled with adults and serve and lead other elementary and preschool kids. We want them to love Jesus more than knowing everything. Give them something significant to do.

Make service a priority on the calendar. Is there anything stunting your ability to do weekly service? What are the reasons that I give?

Create practical entry points and easy wins. How are we going to help them serve?

High School Exchange. Learning about the love of God while serving other people.

Develop a training model. Do you have anything that helps students understand the habits and values of a servant leader? What is the integrity and character of a servant leader? What has God put me on the planet to do?

Model service everywhere. If you are an adult, how do you treat other adults? How do you treat, love, and respect other staff members? One of the best things our kids can see is black and white leaders loving each other. Modeling the good samaritan everywhere.

Leverage groups to champion service. What are your kid’s groups and student groups about? Is they’re a fundamental component of service? Are you raising a generation of small group leaders?

The reason why this is important is that we live in modern day Samaria. We want our students to look, think, and act like Jesus even when all hell breaks loose in their life and serving others makes all the difference.

Instead about making it all about the bad that they do, call them to serve and become the good samaritan. In the process of serving they can fall in love with Jesus.